Anything goes by Hopkins Billy 1928-

Author:Hopkins, Billy, 1928-
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Manners and customs, Manchester (England) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction, England -- Manchester
ISBN: 9780755320554
Publisher: London : Headline
Published: 2005-11-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty

Billy was having a nightmare. In his dream, the house was ablaze and he was standing with the family on the little bedroom balcony at the front of the house. He was panicstricken and the family clung to him. Then came blessed relief when he heard the clanging sound of the fire engine as it tore down Wilmslow Road. He became aware of someone digging him in the back. It was Laura lying by his side.

‘Billy!’ she said urgently. ‘The telephone! The telephone! You’d better go and see who it is!’

He looked at the electric clock on the bedside cabinet. It was 5 a.m.

‘Who in heaven’s name is ringing us at this time of the morning?’ he groaned.

In this world there is nothing more distressing than the strident ringing of a telephone in the early hours of the morning. It can mean only one thing. Bad news.

Quickly he put on his dressing gown and went down to the hall.

‘Hello,’ he said thickly into the mouthpiece.

‘Oh, Billy! Billy!’ the voice cried. ‘Thank God I’ve got you. It’s about your dad!’

Billy’s mouth went dry and the thump of his heart began pounding in his ears.

‘What is it, Mam? What’s happened?’

‘I’ve had a call from the police. Your father’s at Willett Street police station. They found his name and phone number in his cap. They want me to go and collect him. Oh, Billy, I don’t know what to do. He’s gone off wandering in the middle of the night and got himself lost again.’

‘First of all, Mam, stop worrying, if you can. I’ll put on some clothes this instant and go down and get him.’

‘Please, Billy. Bring him straight home to me. I don’t want him put in the cells.’

‘Leave it to me, Mam. I’ll have him back home in a jiffy.’

He put the phone down and went to tell Laura what had happened.

‘The police?’ she gasped. ‘What’s he doing with the police? I do hope he’s not in trouble.’

‘I’ll call the station to find out what’s going on, Laura,’ he said, ‘and then I’ll have to go over to Collyhurst to get him.’

‘Right, Billy. While you’re on the phone, I’ll make you a coffee before you go.’

Billy found the number in the directory and got through to Willett Street and asked if they had a Thomas Hopkins there.

The voice on the other end was careful not to say that they actually had such a man there but they did have a gentleman who had a card in his cap which bore the name that he had mentioned. The card was not proof of his identity as the man they were holding did not seem to know who he was. He was mixed up. The person they’d taken into custody had been found prowling about the district and knocking on people’s doors at four o’clock in the morning, asking for directions to Smithfield Market. The people he’d disturbed had been terrified out of their wits and one of them had rung the police.

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